Chinese Migrants Research Articles

Between transnational engagements and local integration of Chinese communities in Italy: An analysis of the role of migrant organisations

AbstractChinese communities represent one of the largest migrant groups in Italy. Current scholarship overwhelmingly focuses on Chinese ethnic businesses and identity issues. This article addresses an important but under‐researched topic: the role of migrant organisations in enhancing migrant transnationalism and/or local integration. We examine three predominant types of Chinese migrant organisations in Italy—civic, educational, religious—across multiple cities. We show that, at first sight, educational and religious organisations aim to serve the communities in maintaining transnational links with the Chinese‐speaking world, while civic organisations directly promote interactions with the local society. However, deeper analyses reveal that all three types of organisations can play an active role in fostering both migrant transnationalism and local integration, to different degrees in different domains. We discuss policy implications and how potential synergetic collaborations between host society stakeholders and migrant organisations could be explored.

Fei Cheng, Modern Chinese Migration and the Socio-Ecological Transformations in Australia and New Zealand

Fei Cheng, <i>Modern Chinese Migration and the Socio-Ecological Transformations in Australia and New Zealand</i>

Factors Associated with Maternal Healthcare Utilization Before and After Delivery Among Migrant Pregnant Women in China: An Observational Study.

Effective healthcare utilization throughout pregnancy is essential in protecting mother and child health, but the maternal healthcare utilization and its associated factors among migrant women are still underexplored. The data came from the 2018 China Migrants Dynamic Survey. Our analysis included 6337 pregnant migrant women. Prenatal healthcare utilization comprises receiving at least 5 antenatal care (ANC) times and establishing the maternal health record within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Postnatal healthcare utilization refers to whether an individual received a postpartum visit and a physical health examination within 28 days and 42 days following delivery. A multivariate binary logit model was employed to investigate the factors related to maternal healthcare utilization. 67.15% of the 6337 participants establishedhealth records within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, and 88.35% receivedat least five ANC visits. 76.88% and 84.20% of migrant pregnant women received a postpartum visit and a health examination respectively. Age was positively correlated with receiving at least five ANC visits (OR:1.245, 95% CI: 1.038-1.493), a postpartum visit within 28 days (OR: 1.272, 95% CI: 1.107-1.460) and a physical examination within 42 days after delivery (OR=1.174, 95% CI: 1.002-1.376). Education, household income, health insurance and maternal health education were positively associated with prenatal and postnatal healthcare utilization (P<0.05). Number of Children negatively correlated with ANC times (OR: 0.742, 95% CI: 0.613-0.898) and receiving health examination after delivery (OR: 0.720, 95% CI: 0.610-0.849). There is still potential for improvement in the maternal healthcare utilization, particularly in postnatal healthcare. Strengthening the follow-up, focusing on those who are younger, have lower socioeconomic status, and are members of ethnic minorities, and continuing to strengthen maternal health education for them can promote the maternal healthcare utilization before and after delivery.

Cumulative health disadvantages: an empirical study of the health and mobility of the first cohort of migrant workers in China.

The study aimed to understand the factors affecting the health and healthcare of the first cohort of migrant workers in China using the concept of the cumulative disadvantage framework. Data from the China Migrants Dynamic Survey (2017) were used to analyze the process of cumulative disadvantage of health and healthcare among migrant workers. The study also analyzed the spatial lag problem between localized medical insurance policies and healthcare accessibility. The results revealed a significant negative association between the mobility of the first cohort of migrant workers and their health status. Long-term exposure to hazardous work had a greater negative impact on their health. Chinese migrant workers faced significant obstacles in accessing healthcare due to the lack of portability in health insurance. The study emphasizes the urgent need for addressing the structural barriers hindering healthcare access and outcomes for migrant workers. It is crucial to promote a more equitable and sustainable healthcare system in China to ensure migrant workers' health and well-being.

Chinese Female Return Migrants’ Emotion in the Domestic Sphere

Recently, the study of emotion has become an important subject in sociology. Many works have been done on analyzing people’s emotions and emotion work, especially on migrants and transnational families, how people feel when they are apart from their families, and how they try to manage their feelings. However, not many studies have been done of the emotions and emotion work of return migrants and their relationship with their family members. Therefore, in this paper, the emotion work of female return migrants and their relationship with their family members is studied. In this thesis, the feelings experienced and how they manage their feelings will be examined, and the consequences and impact of their effort in trying to manage their feelings will be discussed. In most cases, female return migrants may face more severe challenges than males for many reasons such as social stereotypes of women and roles they should take on in a family, and the emotions they are supposed to feel. Hence, it is noteworthy to study how they deal with these issues.

Ambition or comparison? Socioeconomic status and wellbeing differences between local and migrant workers.

Pursuing wellbeing is an essential part of human life and plays a determining role in public health and social sustainability. Prior research identified objective socioeconomic status (O-SES), such as real income and homeownership, as facilitators of human subjective wellbeing (SWB). However, not all humans with better SES reported high SWB. This paper expects that subjective socioeconomic status (S-SES) is the key path through which O-SES shapes SWB and that this indirect relationship varies by household registration status, length of residentship, and type of migrant status. Based on a national representative survey dataset-China General Social Survey 2010 (CGSS), the results of generalized structural equation modeling (GSEM) show that household income and homeownership as O-SES are positively related to SWB. Self-evaluated household SES as an important indicator of S-SES not only has a positive relationship with SWB but also significantly mediates the relationship between O-SES and SWB, especially for the new-local residents (NLRs), urban-to-urban migrants (UUMs) and rural-to-urban migrants (RUMs). This study has substantial implications for targeting the comparative psychology and sustainable productivity of Chinese migrants and the local labor force since it is currently facing a growing aging society.

Becoming Chinese in the Malay world: colonialism, migration and history in Singapore

ABSTRACT This article raises a neglected discussion on the intertwined connections between Chinese migration and European imperial formations in the Malay world using Singapore as a focal point. Working from the perspective of critical historiography in contemporary Singapore, the article highlights limitations in current approaches using concepts such as “Chinese migration” and “Chinese diaspora.” I suggest using “the Malay world” to surface the specificity of the coloniality of migratory Chineseness in this region on account of the transethnic and fluid character of the Malay world. Using the Malay world as method and conceptual scaffolding helps to contextualise Chinese migration to Singapore within Indigenous patterns of movement, settlement and identity formation in a region disrupted and reorganised with European imperial formations during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Unravelling nationalistic framing of masculine and patriarchal histories of diasporic Chineseness, this approach critiques efforts in myth-making about Chineseness and Singaporean exceptionalism in this region.

Escaping from the identity enclave: Social inclusion events and floating migrants' settlement intention in China

AbstractChina has undergone unprecedented waves of internal migration over the past decades. However, the discriminatory hukou system puts migrants into an ‘identity enclave’ which challenges migrants' perception of place and identity, thus reducing their settlement intention. In the meantime, existing literature has also highlighted the positive roles of social bonds and social networks in migrants' decision to stay. Based on the theories of social capital, this research explores the relationship between migrants' participation in social inclusion events (SIE) and their intention to stay (ITS) in host cities. Drawing data from the 2017 China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS), this research constructs a multistep model and uses the self‐perceived inclusion level to examine this relationship. This work also differentiates between bonding social capital and bridging social capital and separately examines the relationship in low‐, mid‐, and high‐skill groups. The results show that participating in SIE helps with migrants' ITS. Particularly, it also helps migrants to feel more included, which is an important trigger for them to stay. The findings could be informative for scholars and policymakers to understand the means and approaches for migrants in China to become more integrated into their host places.

The Reconstruction of the Cosmopolitan Imaginary: Chinese International Students during the COVID‐19 Pandemic1

Social and geopolitical disruptions triggered by the COVID‐19 crisis have raised crucial questions about the shifting meaning of race, citizenship, and nationality for transborder migrants amidst receding globalization, hardening borders, and geopolitical tensions. The aim of this paper is to examine the ways in which Chinese international students have viewed and negotiated their ambiguous racial and ethnonational position between nations during the global pandemic. Drawing on 16 student interviews at one upstate New York campus between 2019 and 2021, we argue that Chinese international students have occupied a liminal space between nations that shapes their understanding of race and racism through a distinctly geopolitical lens. Double‐edged exclusion and discrimination from both the US and China during the global pandemic have heightened their sense of social dislocation and withdrawal from nationalist politics in both countries. In the process, they have not so much surrendered the cosmopolitan ideals that motivated their migration but rather, reimagined them while maintaining a delicate balance between global cosmopolitan ideals and ethnonationalist loyalties. Our findings provide insights into the future political trajectory of Chinese transborder migrants amid tense US–China relations and help to explain the contradictions of diasporic Chinese worldviews on current affairs.

The impact of intergenerational income mobility on internal migration in China

AbstractThis study examines the impact of income mobility on internal migration across prefectures in China. We use income intergenerational persistence to evaluate income mobility and find that migrants prefer cities with higher income mobility. We further use the instrumental variable estimation and a set of robustness tests to verify the reliability of our findings. The influence is larger among women, the elderly, and the less‐educated, while the economic prosperity of destinations could relatively offset the negative effect of lower income mobility on migration. Additionally, higher mobility not only attracts but also retains migrants, hence benefiting the local economy. Through further exploration, we find that the real migration influencing factor underlying the higher income mobility is the higher job mobility, indicating that the real pursuit of Chinese migrants is the increased access to suitable job opportunities.

The impact of labor mobility with fellow townsmen on the wages of rural migrants: evidence from China

Labor mobility is an inherent component of economic development and labor market changes. With globalization and urbanization, labor mobility is on the rise in many developing countries, and it is of great significance to study the economic outcomes and poverty alleviation effects of this phenomenon. This paper explores the impact of labor mobility on the wages of rural migrants when they move out with their fellow townsmen (folks from the same county). The study uses the China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS) data and applies the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) method for empirical analysis. Our results suggest that labor mobility with fellow townsmen significantly increases the wages of rural migrants. The paper shows two promotion mechanisms: mobility with fellow townsmen affects the wages of rural migrants by improving their ability to search for information and negotiate wages. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that mobility with fellow townsmen significantly increases the wages of rural migrants engaged in producer service, consumer service, blue-collar occupations, and working in state-owned and private enterprises. Furthermore, it has a more positive impact on the wages of older rural migrants from an intergenerational perspective. Interestingly, rural migrants may “give up” part of their wages to care for their families when they move with their spouses, parents, or children. Therefore, the government needs to take effective policy measures to promote the employment service system and improve the labor rights and interests protection mechanism for rural migrants.

Affective News, Affective Labor: Chinese Female “Little Editors” of WeChat Official Accounts in Australia

In Australia, WeChat Official Accounts is known as a hub for the production and distribution of affective news, or sensationalized content, among Chinese migrants. This article aims to address: Who/What is responsible for this form of content production on WeChat? Who are the people (re)producing news information for WeChat Official Accounts in Australia? How and why do they engage with such activities for Australia-based WeChat Official Accounts? And how do they shed light on our digital culture, economy, and platform labor? To address the questions, from 2019 to 2022, I conducted 27 semi-structured interviews with Chinese-Australian media professionals at both managerial and staff levels as well as conducted a longitudinal ethnographic observation with more than 200 Australia-based WeChat Official Accounts that translate news stories for the Chinese diaspora. The article argues that in Australia affective news on WeChat is the news story that conveys emotional resonance to Chinese migrant readers; it is predominantly produced by Chinese female little editors who work as affective labor. The employment of affective labor, that is, Chinese female international students or postgraduates, has led to the concentration of precarity, exploitation, and alienation among the groups of Chinese female little editors who are vulnerably exposed to the double exclusion coming from both neoliberalism in Australia’s dominant society and patriarchal normativity embedded in the Chinese migrant economy. The research findings shed light on the intensifying social inequality based on one’s race, ethnicity, gender, and social class that has been imposed and further normalized by digital technologies.

School Management and Education Development for Chinese Migrant Children: The Mediating Role of Assistance and Affective Support

The educational development level of migrant children is affected by many factors, and it is practical to study it. Based on the current situation of migrant children study in China, this study explored the multiple mediating effects of educational support and moderating effect of the age on the level of educational development by policy environment. The study sample was composed of 541 Chinese migrant adolescents aged 9 to 17. They completed educational development questionnaire, educational support questionnaire and policy environment questionnaire. Mediating and moderating effects analysis were used to examine the role of educational support between policy environment and educational development. The results show that the educational development level of Chinese migrant children was relatively high. However, there were significant differences among different schools and ages. It was found that school management played most important role in the educational development of migrant children. Also, it was found that assistance support played a partial mediating role between school management and academic condition, and affective support played a partial mediating role between school management and social behavior, and age played a moderating role between school management and social behavior. School management for Chinese migrant children should be further strengthened. Assistance support and affective support for Chinese migrant children should be further improved. In addition, the management of migrant children aged from 14 to 17 should be the focus of attention. In this study, some suggestions are put forward to improve these influence factors of education development for Chinese migrant children.

:Contesting Chineseness: Nationality, Class, Gender and New Chinese Migrants

:<i>Contesting Chineseness: Nationality, Class, Gender and New Chinese Migrants</i>

The Role of Chinese Migrants in Vietnam in Promoting Trade between the Port of Ha Tien and International Market in the 17th–18th Centuries

Ha Tien, which covered a vast area of southern Vietnam in the past, was the location of one of the most important Vietnamese trade ports during the 17th and 18th centuries. Owing to the trading expertise of its lord Mac Cuu and the Minh Huong people (descendants of Ming loyalist immigrants who settled in South Vietnam during the 16th and 18th centuries), as well as the strategic vision and open policies of the Nguyen lords, a large trade network was established, connecting Ha Tien with other busy trade ports in Vietnam as well as internationally at that time. This achievement also sprang from the fact that Ha Tien trade port was founded during “the Age of Commerce”, when systems of international seaports were set up and developed vigorously. Although studies on Ha Tien trading port mentioned in Vietnamese and foreign language works, those works just wrote the name of the trade port without going into deep analysis the position and role of the trading port in the regional and international trade system. Therefore, the article focuses on in-depth analysis, clarifying contributions of the port to trade activities of Vietnam and the world in the the 17th and 18th centuries.

Trends and influencing factors of HIV health education receive rate among 0.57 million migrants in China from 2009 to 2017: a national population-based study

IntroductionChina has implemented Basic Public Health Service (BPHS) in 2009, aiming to improve the health status of the people, and the content of service includes implying health education for residents. As an important group of people, the migrants can easily become main reason for major infectious diseases such as HIV between different provinces, but the effect of receiving health education is still unknown for migrants. Therefore, the health education of China’s migrant population has received widespread attention.MethodsThis study used the data of the China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS) from 2009 to 2017, and evaluated the trend of HIV health education acceptance rate of different migrant groups across the country (n = 570,614). Logistic regression model was used to test the influencing factors of HIV health education rate. Results: The study found that the overall HIV health education rate of Chinese migrants decreased from 2009 to 2017, and different types of migrants showed different trends. The proportion of migrants aged 20–35 who receive education fluctuates, and ethnic minorities, western regions, and migrants with high education were more likely to receive HIV health education. Conclusion: These findings identify when implementing health education for migrants, we can carry out more education for specific groups to promote the health equity of the migrant population.

Vaccination in the childhood and awareness of basic public health services program among internal migrants: a nationwide cross-sectional study

BackgroundVaccination is proved to be one of the most effective and efficient way to prevent illness and reduce health inequality. Studies about association between vaccination inequalities in the childhood and awareness of basic public health services program among internal migrants in China are lacking. In this study, we aimed to explore the association between migrants’ vaccination status between 0 and 6 years old and their awareness of the National Basic Public Health Services (BPHSs) project in China.MethodsWe included 10,013 respondents aged 15 years old or above of eight provinces from 2017 Migrant Population Dynamic Monitoring Survey in China, a nationwide cross-sectional study. Univariate and multivariable logistic regressions were used to assess vaccination inequalities and the awareness of public health information.ResultsOnly 64.8% migrants were vaccinated in their childhood, which is far below the goal of national requirement of 100% vaccination. This also indicated the vaccination inequalities among migrants. Female, the middle-aged, married or having a relationship, the highly educated and the healthy population had higher awareness of this project than others. Both univariate and multivariate logistic regressions showed greatly significant association between vaccination status and some vaccines. Specifically, after adding convariates, the results showed that there were significant associations between the vaccination rates of eight recommended vaccines in the childhood and their awareness of BPHSs project (all p values < 0.001), including HepB vaccine (OR: 1.28; 95%CI: 1.19, 1.37), HepA vaccine (OR: 1.27; 95%CI: 1.15, 1.41), FIn vaccine (OR: 1.28; 95%CI: 1.16, 1.45), JE vaccine (OR: 1.14; 95%CI: 1.04, 1.27), TIG vaccine (OR: 1.27; 95%CI: 1.05, 1.47), DTaP vaccine (OR: 1.30; 95%CI: 1.11–1.53), MPSV vaccine (OR: 1.26; 95%CI: 1.07–1.49), HF vaccine (OR: 1.32; 95%CI: 1.11, 1.53), except for RaB vaccine (OR: 1.07; 95%CI: 0.89, 1.53).ConclusionsThe vaccination inequalities exist among migrants. There is a strong relationship between the vaccination status in the childhood and the awareness rate of BPHSs project among migrants. From our findings we could know that the promotion of vaccination rates of the disadvantaged population such as the internal migrants or other minority population can help them increase the awareness of free public health services, which was proved to be beneficial for health equity and effectiveness and could promote public health in the future.

Factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine uptake among foreign migrants in China

Background/PurposeThe COVID-19 outbreak created unique policy challenges for vaccinating special groups like migrants. As part of sustainable development goals, the equitable distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine can contribute to ensuring health for all. This study examined COVID-19 vaccine uptake among foreign migrants in China based on sociodemographics, cultural beliefs, past vaccine behaviors, and psychosocial factors. DesignAn online cross-sectional survey was conducted among foreign migrants in mainland China via social media platforms from 21 November through 20 December 2021. Bivariate (unadjusted odd-ratio) and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to establish the correlates of COVID-19 vaccine uptake. ResultSurveyed foreign migrants that are culture neutral (AOR: 2.5, CI: 95%, 1.02–5.90, p = 0.044), willing to pay for vaccination (AOR: 2.27, CI: 95%, 1.18–3.98, p = 0.012), believe in vaccine efficacy (AOR: 3.00, CI: 95%, 1.75–5.16, p < 0.000), have poor psychological health (AOR: 1.96, CI: 95%, 1.14–3.38, p = 0 0.014), and have higher perceived seriousness of COVID-19 (AOR: 2.12, CI: 95%, 1.26–3.57, p = 0.005) are more likely to receive COVID-19 vaccine. Those migrants with a history of declining vaccination (AOR: 0.34, CI: 95%, 0.18–0.65, p = 0.000) and middle-income earners $1701–3500 (AOR: 0.43, CI: 95%, 0.23–0.82, p = 0.010) are less likely to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. ConclusionThis study brings a unique perspective to understanding vaccine behavior among international migrants in China. There is an urgent call from the World Health Organization and countries for complete vaccination and efforts to improve vaccine coverage. However, fewer studies have been conducted globally on the vaccination of migrant populations. The current study provides empirical information to increase the knowledge of the correlates of vaccine behavior among immigrants in countries around the globe. Future studies should conduct cross-country comparisons to understand the factors associated with increasing vaccination rates among immigrant populations to formulate a strong policy to increase vaccine coverage among immigrant populations across countries.

Does Childhood Left-Behind Experience Affect New Generation of Migrant Workers’ Willingness to Settle in Towns and Cities?

ABSTRACT This paper investigates whether the experience of being left during childhood affects the new generation of migrant workers’ willingness to settle in towns and cities and its internal mechanism from a life-cycle perspective. Using the 2017 China Migrants Dynamic Survey, we found that the experience of being left behind during childhood has a significantly negative impact on people’s willingness to settle in towns and cities, and it has an impact through the individual’s education level, health status, financial situation and social skills. Furthermore, heterogeneity analysis reveals that the abovementioned effects were more notable in the samples left-behind experience with female, high frequency of mobility, short period of mobility, cross-provincial, and being left behind when both parents are working in cities. These findings add to the research on population migration.

The strength of culture: Acculturation and urban-settlement intention of rural migrants in China

The effect of acculturation on migrants' settlement has not been well explored in existing literature. Drawing on the cultural gravity model and the acculturation theory, this study offers a cultural perspective on the urban-settlement intention of rural migrants in China. Employing data from a large survey project, the analysis provides strong evidence on the settlement effect of acculturation among rural migrants. In particular, rural migrants who embrace the assimilation mode exhibit the strongest urban-settlement intention, followed by those who embrace the integration mode; whereas those who embrace the separation or marginalization mode exhibit the weakest urban-settlement intention. Moreover, how acculturation affects settlement intention is moderated by the period of urban stay and migration patterns of the migrants. The findings imply that the cultural gravity effect not only exists at the macro level, reflected by the migration flows among different countries, but also at the individual level, as shown by the settlement effect of acculturation among rural migrants. In addition, this study revealed that the bicultural migrants do not express the strongest urban settlement intention, thus the bicultural perspective of acculturation must be transcended to elucidate the effects of acculturation on migrants’ settlement intention.